Fat Gram Details For Cream

Okay - I know.  Weird subject.  But, here's the deal.  I cook a lot.  And recently, someone asked me a question about substituting the difference between light cream and heavy cream in a recipe.  Turns out they were making ice cream from an older recipe - and that recipe included both heavy cream and light cream in equal amounts.  The question was:  what is the difference.   And, my friend wanted to know if half-and-half could be substituted for light cream.

Obviously, the difference is in the fat content.  But - - what IS the difference.  ...And, would the recipe still turn out with a substitution - as it's increasingly difficult to find anything other than just heavy cream in today's supermarket.

After a little research online - from various sources I might add - I have compiled the following comparison list:

HEAVY CREAM has at least 36% milk fat content

LIGHT CREAM has 18 to 30% milk fat content

HALF & HALF has 10 to 18% milk fat content

After seeing this, it's easy to deduce that substituting one of these for another in a recipe is going to change things.

Going back to the original question of whether or not half-and-half could be switched in place of light cream in an ice cream recipe --- I would say no.  (A) the results wouldn't be as creamy...and (B) the ice cream would be softer in nature - as it includes more water content.

(RESEARCH MATERIALS CAME FROM MANY ONLINE SITES -- specifically including landolakes.com